Tag Archives: Mental health

Uncategorized

Row diary: Mental preparation

Leave a comment

While physical preparations are relatively straight forward, it’s a different story for the mental training for the row.

With less than four months to go, I’m starting to feel anxious about the crossing, and am preoccupied that I’m not paying enough attention to getting my mind in place.

It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time, but only recently have I figured it out (or at least I think I have).

When one thinks of the prospect of rowing two hours on / two hours off for around 50 days non-stop, the things that come to mind are hardship, pain and suffering, exhaustion, loneliness, depression, regret, anxiety, and helplessness. Then add seasickness, fear, and a touch of claustrophobia to top it all off.

I’m sure I’ll experience some if not all of those. But that’s not what’s really important. The important thing is managing to get over them and keep going.

But that’s not all. Everything I’ve done so far in life was aimed at reaching something, getting somewhere – driving for hours to get home from work, finishing a marathon or completing my thesis. It’s always been the getting there. That’s wrong. By doing this, I forgot to enjoy myself on the way.

My Atlantic adventure will be just that – an adventure where I will look forward to every stroke, enjoy every freeze-dried meal as though it were cooked by a Michelin-star chef, spend time getting to know my fellow travelers, buzzing to music, getting thrilled by sunsets and sunrises, respecting the greatness of nature, and hoping the trip never ends.

I won’t miss people, but look forward to seeing them on my return, especially my wife and kids. I’ll enjoy the confined space of our cabin – after all, I’ll have ample time to sleep in my big bed on my return.

It’s all about mindset. That will be the biggest challenge.

Uncategorized

Row diary: Challenging times + medical update

Leave a comment

It’s now been nearly two years since I’ve embarked on this project and I must say it’s getting quite tough – physically and mentally.

On the physical side, I’m training twice or three times a day for anything between two and four hours. Sometimes, I do 24-hour training sessions, rowing two-hours on, two hours off, and in a few weeks I’ll do a 48-hour indoor row.

I guess the body of a 50-year-old can only take so much, but I can’t really afford to slow down. I also need to make sure that on 1 March 2021, I do not leave on my trip already exhausted.

Having said that, I found out I have carpal tunnel syndrome in both my wrists, which means that a decision may be imposed on me. So getting carpal tunnel now may end up being a blessing in disguise.

The Atlantic crossing leaves Portugal on 1 March 2021

Hands up

There are nerves in your wrists that lead to your fingers. If these nerves are squeezed or pinched, electrical impulses don’t get to your fingers as fast as they should.

Today I went to the doctor and unsurprisingly he found that the left hand is not doing very well. The right is not much better.

This is not too serious, but it means I need to get a double operation to fix them. Hopefully. this will happen next week. It’s a relatively simple procedure, and I’ll have to get the hands done two days apart. Not quite sure why.

Once done, I need to take a 10-day to two-week break from intense training. That sucks, but it’s also good for my body. I guess it needs a bit of a break.

The will to go on

Mentally, it’s more challenging. I’ve been preparing for this adventure for a long time and believe I am in good shape. Then, suddenly, I started having misgivings in September.

I can’t pinpoint the exact reason why. Probably, it’s a combination of many factors – my hands being messed up, fatigue, a low response to my fundraising efforts, little inroads with my social media campaigns (actually getting nearly as many unfollows as follows), Covid-19 isolation, and the inability to travel home.

It really has taken it’s toll. It’s hard to admit, but I’m struggling. There are good days, and there are bad.

Sometimes I wake up in a cold sweat in near freak-out mode wondering what the hell I’ve got myself into. Another, I’m on top of the world. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not looking sympathy. I just need to ‘speak’ about this, even because I never had.

Despite this, I am resolute in carrying out the crossing, even if it’s the last thing I do. The determination to get to our final destination of French Guiana has not waned. Not even a little bit.

See you on the other side.

To find out more about Steve’s challenge, visit his website: www.crossrower.ch or de.crossrower.ch (German)